On August 27, 2010, after new charges were unsealed, The Australian
described the conspiracy as "one of the most serious war-crimes cases to emerge from the Afghan war."[7][8][9][10][11]

Winfield is member of the same US army unit as Sergeant Calvin Gibbs who allegedly formed a "kill team" to murder Afghan civilians for thrills.[7]
Gibbs is reported to have threatened to kill Winfield, if he didn't participate in attempts to cover-up the killings.[3][12]

Christopher Winfield the father of Adam said that his son sent him Facebook messages home asking for help after the first Afghan civilian had been allegedly murdered.[13]
Winfield called the Army and a military hot line asking officials to investigate - to no avail.
Two more Afghan civilians died before an investigation revealed the alleged plot and now a total of 12 soldiers face 74 charges in connection with the alleged war crime. Adam Winfield is charged with conspiracy and murder a male of apparent Afghan decent by throwing a grenade at him and shooting him with firearms.
According to Winfield's parents, while he obeyed an order to fire on the third Afghan civilian, he deliberately fired to miss.